Work First, Michigan Works! Move to Bell Office Complex

Dulcey Kantola (from left) of Work First, and Holly Krisatis and Jay Caldwell of Michigan Works! are now in the process of moving their offices from City Hall to the Bell Office Complex at 6 Spring Street in St. Ignace.

The EUP Michigan Works! office and the office of Work First are moving from City Hall to the Bell Office Complex at 6 Spring Street in St. Ignace.

Both agencies offer a range of free services to job seekers in the area.

Michigan Works!, coordinated by Jay Caldwell, helps workers get skill training and tuition assistance and helps with resume preparation, interview skills, and job searches. Work experience programs offer short-term, temporary job opportunities to people who want to use new capabilities or strengthen former skills. A displaced worker program is available for those who have been displaced or laid off owing to business closure.

Through the on-the-job-training program, Michigan Works! funding can provide up to 50 percent of an employee's wages during a specified training period. Once the training period is completed, the employee remains in his position in unsubsidized employment.

People can visit the Michigan Works! office to update resumes, which is required to file unemployment claims, strengthen job seeking and interview skills, career counseling, and to check out job postings and participate in a Michigan job bank. Interview and conference rooms are available for businesses to use.

"We will post jobs here, and we can conduct applicant searches for businesses," said Mr. Caldwell. "Unlike employers, we are not restricted by law in the questions we can ask of applicants. We can screen applicants for employers. None of this costs anything to anybody."

The St. Ignace Michigan Works! office served about 2,000 people last year, and this year will begin working on a new program to assist prison parolees to prepare for the workforce.

The Work First program will soon be called the JET (Jobs, Education, and Training) program, under a restructuring mandate by Governor Jennifer Granholm, said coordinator Dulcey Kantola. JET program pilot sites are already in place in lower Michigan. It helps recipients of welfare and the Human Services Department get training to enter the workforce by providing on-the-job training, classroom, and job skills. Participants complete job skill training, work experience opportunities, GED classes, and can participate in ongoing vocational training opportunities. The local Department of Human Services works in partnership with Work First.

Anew step in the JET program is to move workers into the community as volunteers. In St. Ignace, workers will volunteer at the Hope Chest resale store and at Community Action, or other places of employtment that could offer hands-on job skill experiences, Ms. Kantola said.

"Many of our local families have both spouses employed, but are still barely making ends meet each payday," she said. "Oftentimes a layoff could devastate a family financially, enough to apply for public assistance benefits simply to feed their families."

Employers receive incentives to use Work First employees, including 50 percent of wages paid during on-the-job training and tax breaks for employers who hire low income or hard-to-serve clients, which can amount to about $2,000 per year, she said.

About 100 local people were served through the program last year, including clients living in Moran, Trout Lake, Cedarville, and Hessel, she pointed out.

"Although Michigan Works! and Work First are diverse programs, we can overlap with clients and work together to help the person be employed," Ms. Kantola said. "Work First helps people referred through the Department of Human Services or Friend of the Court, while Michigan Works! can serve everybody."

Michigan Works! can be reached at 643-8158.

Work First can be reached at 643-6714.